The Ride Every Stride Team had the incredible opportunity to attend the most recent two instalments of Major League Show jumping held at Angelstone Tournaments.

When we were asked to support this new series early on in the season, we have to say we jumped on board. As you all know, we are all about giving back to our sport, but we are also about giving back to our community, and there’s no better way for us to do that than through sponsorship.

We are pleased to be the official cooler provider for the MLSJ Team Event.

With that said, we were extremely excited to be able to watch both of the the $200,000 5* MLSJ team events at Angelstone Tournaments first hand on August 21st and August 27th and what amazing events they were! Both nights offered an exciting evening, set ringside to mingle, mesh and meet. Not to mention watch some incredible equestrian athletes race to the finish for the final prize.

From our neatly decorated ringside table dressed in long black table covers and fancied with signs and beautiful orchids, we were privy to the thrill of a lifetime, equestrian show jumping competition in its highest and best form.

By now, many of you might be asking "so what is this Major League Show Jumping thing that Linda is raving about anyways?” because we certainly were. Well read on, and let me help fill in the gaps for you which will hopefully spark your interest, as much as ours, for you to tune in and get involved with the next one!

The first thing to make note of with the Major League Show Jumping (MLSJ) tour is its exciting and innovative format that attracts some of the sport’s highest equine athletes.

The Athletes are cherry picked from the Nations Cup, Global Champions League and Longines Masters series to create teams (eight altogether) of six athletes with a team manager that will challenge each other at every leg of the tour.

The format of the class is easy to follow and to quote the Angelstone team, “rewards speed, risk and of course strategy!” Here’s how it works:

Round 1 - 8 teams, 3 riders per = 24 athletes:

All eight MLSJ teams compete over a 1.50M course in a back-to-back fashion (each horse and rider of the same team competes one after the other).

Their faults are simply added together to create a score. However, only the top four teams are asked to move onto the next round, so the goal is an obvious one, stay within the top 4 and continue competing.

Round 2 - First Jump-Off:

As we mentioned above, the goal of the first round is to separate the top 4 teams who move onto this round, the first jump-off and speed round. Each team manager selects two of their three athletes to compete in this round (hint, hint...they pick the fastest) to represent their team moving forward.

The round takes place over a shortened course where the idea is to complete it as fast as possible AND leave all the poles up. Each pole is worth 3 seconds, so with every pole that is knocked down, the faster the riders need to go to make up for the 3 seconds that gets added to their time! This is where the excitement really begins!

Round 3 - Podium Jump-Off:

This is considered the gold medal match. The top two teams from the first jump-off (round 2) advance to this round and compete with only one rider, but with one catch! The team rider that must compete in this round and battle it out for the win is the horse and rider combination that wasn't selected to ride in Round 2! So, THIS should really be the fastest rider on the team as they are finishing the final leg for all the loot!

These were exciting evenings that checked all the boxes for us, but the most memorable part was seeing Team Eye Candy (August 21st winners) and Team AIM United (August 27th winners) come into the ring dressed in the winning Ride Every Stride sponsored coolers that we helped create for each event.

Classic navy blue, premium wool, with complimenting metallic silver and green piping, embroidered with premium stitches to showcase the luxury MLSJ brand. It was a sight to be seen and one that we are proud of and thankful for.

PC: Major League Show Jumping

From the pomp and circumstance, to the guts and glamour, this is what competitive show jumping is all about and we have no doubt that you will find a live event as thrilling as we did and will want to add this to your roster of "events to watch" out for.

Visit the Major League Show Jumping website for more details and information about upcoming events and live streams and if you are interested in learning more about “branding your biz” with Ride Every Stride Inc., visit us here.

 We look forward to hearing from you and until next time…be well and stay safe.